About Me

Jim Killebrew has 40 years of clinical psychological work for people with intellectual disabilities, and experience teaching, administration, consulting, writing with multiple publications. Dr. Killebrew has attended four Universities and received advanced degrees. Southern Illinois University; Ph.D., Educational Psychology; University of Illinois at Springfield, Counseling Education; M.A., Human Development Counseling; Northeastern Oklahoma State University, B.A., Psychology and Sociology. Dr. Killebrew attended Lincoln Christian Seminary (Now Lincoln Christian University). Writing contributions have been accepted and published in several journals: Hospital & Community Psychiatry, The Lookout, and Christian Standard (multiple articles). He may be reached at Killebrewjb@aol.com.

Welcome to my Opinion Pages

Thanks for stopping by and reading some of my thoughts. I hope you will find an enjoyable adventure here on my pages.

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Thursday, May 6, 2010

Union adds burden to taxpayer

The taxpayer carries a heavy burden. When government officials require more resources to take care of those who are in need, they oftentimes turn to the taxpayer and levy more taxes. For Illinois the tax and spend habit has left the state 11 billion dollars in debt.

In 1993 the federal government believed that it was important for a family member to provide care and services for their own family and passed the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to help with that task. A working family member could take a leave to care for another member of the family who was in need.

The Apostle Paul admonished the people to

"Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due." He continued, however, "Owe no one anything…." (Romans 13:7-8).

The debt Illinois owes is made worse by one Union's actions.

One of the largest public unions, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has pulled a coup for its members. In their current Illinois contract for 2008 - 2012 in Section 26 Maternity/Paternity Leave, it states, "All male bargaining unit members who show proof that their spouses have received prenatal care in the first twenty weeks, with notification to the Employer within 24 weeks, will be eligible for four (4) weeks (20 work days) of paid paternity leave."

What a nice little package for time off for the fellow to be home an extra month with pay. Taxpayers outside of the government employment should be so lucky. For state employees it is not just maternity/paternity; it is any medical need that the employee can justify. For those outside of Illinois employment the usual practice is the FMLA allows for non-paid time off.

Multiply these extra months of paid time off scored by the Union for each of the state employees in Illinois and see how many multiple millions of dollars get added each year to the already bloated budget deficit.

Taxpayers should write to their local representatives and ask for an accounting of this and other similar practices.